This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #VivaLaMorena#CollectiveBias

Who says Fall has to be about eating only turkey related dishes?! Why not take your favorite year-round recipes and incorporate them into your holiday dishes? I’ve got the perfect chicken recipe for your holidays today!

After studying in Puerto Rico for seven straight years, my love for Hispanic foods just keeps growing! It does not help that my husband cannot seem to eat enough of anything Mexican, either. Between the both of us I am not sure who loves the Hispanic foods the more. To satisfy our taste, you can find me cooking weekly Hispanic meals. In fact, it is even on our weekly menu to prepare a Hispanic dinner of some sort. But just because the holidays are upon us, that does not give me a reason to stop. I have found a way to incorporate our favorite Mexican foods with our Holiday foods – a mix of both! And YES, I know Spanish! Thanks for asking!! Well, at least enough to get by:=)

To prepare my Spicy Baked “Fried” Chicken, I first made a stop by Tony’s Finer Foods to grab a can of La Morena Chipotle Peppers in Adobo along with a bag of Maseca® Corn Flour. I found both ingredients in the same isle, almost side by side; that made shopping with little kids a whole lot easier. Whenever I take the kids to Tony’s Finer Foods, I often joke with them that we are at their daddy’s store because he carries the same name.

La Morena has been providing high quality products with an authentic and traditional Mexican tastes for over 25 years to customers who appreciates quality and tradition. 

Once I got my ingredients together I began to make this delicious chicken!

First, I combined the Maseca® Corn Flour with paprika and salt.

Then, I used my blender to finely chop the La Morena Chipotle Peppers (along with some of the sauce). The spicier the better! I am a Caribbean gal – we love spicy!! 

I then rubbed the chopped Chipotle peppers unto the chicken and let it sit while I went about prepping the rest of the recipe. I also combined some milk with a slightly beaten egg for dipping the chicken before coating. Then I formed a little assembly line by dipping the chicken in the milk mixture and then into the Maseca® Corn Flour mixture.

After all pieces of the chicken were coated with the Maseca® Corn Flour, I scooped up any left over peppers from the bowl and sprinkled them unto the chicken. Then I baked “fried” the chicken at 400 degrees for 1 hr 10 minutes. While the bake time may have been a little long, the prepping itself is quick. And it was well worth the wait for the chicken to be done.

Look how nice and brown and crisp it looks. I am really pleased with how well the Maseca coating adhered to the chicken and gave it this nice color. And because this is meant to be a holiday recipe, I also made a little dipping sauce with cranberry to go with along with it. No need to have turkey to eat your cranberries!

To make the sauce, I combined Mexican salsa, whole cranberries, and of course 1 teaspoon of La Morena Chipotle in Adobo Pepper sauce. The peppers gave it a gentle little kick.

This spicy baked “fried” chicken with La Morena Chipotle Peppers and Maseca® Corn Flour is sure to be a great addition to your holiday meal planning.  Here is the full recipe so you, too, can make this chicken.

Serve it with a my quick mildly spicy cranberry and salsa dip and your family will be sure to love it during the holidays. Mine did! At one point I even saw our 10 month old baby chewing away on a drumstick in his hand that he got from one of his sisters. I guess he likes spicy, too! It did not seem to affect the kid one bit!

What is one of your favorite Mexican dishes and how do you incorporate it into your holiday meals? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments. And be sure to check  La Morena products  #VivaLaMorena for more delicious recipes!

The Virtuous Woman – Proverbs 31:10-31  (Taken from the King James Version (KJV)

As we continue our Biblical Homemaking series, I would like to continue on the characteristics of a Biblical Homemaker. We have already seen from Titus that she is Sound and Stable, and one who loves her family and does good at home. You can find the post here. Today, I want to touch a little on the Proverbs 31 woman by updating an older post.

There is so much to learn from this type of woman. One could easily become intimated by just reading the verses that seem like an exhausted list. I remember reading these verses long before I was married and longed to be like this example of a woman. But then I wondered how in the world someone could achieve all this. I mean, I cannot even sew or do all the fancy stuff this lady does. But you know what, I am thankful that I do not have to be able to sew to be a good homemaker. Not everyone has this talent. Not everyone has the same talents. The world would be a boring place if we all did. The key is to use what we were blessed with to the best of our abilities to bring glory to God, who gave them to us in the first place.

The world would be a boring place if we all had the same talents. The key is to use what we were blessed with to the best of our abilities to bring glory to God, who gave them to us in the first place.

I am by no means a Bible scholar. But I will do my best to give a brief overview of the verses. Many of us as wives and homemakers desire to be better at what we do. Someone once said that is why we women look to various sources for help. We look at magazines, HGTV shows, read a million blog posts about family and home, and various other resources to help us become better. But what better examples to follow than those from the Bible? It is all laid out for us in plain old writing. I guarantee you, the bible would never lead you astray. It may have been written a long time ago and may be old fashioned but the principles still apply. So let’s get right to it! 

•  ¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous woman? The first impression that we get from this woman is that she is Virtuous. First impressions matters, don’t they? The English Standard Version translates the word “virtuous” as “excellent”. She is a wife of noble character and a women who excels in everything she does as we will see in the following verses.

The second part of the verse talks about her prize being more than rubies. . . . for her price is far above rubies.  When I think about rubies, I think about expensive gem stones. In fact, it is said that rubies are one of the most expensive gems today and may even be more valuable than colorless diamonds! Moreover, the ruby was considered the most precious of the 12 gem stones created by God. So for a virtuous woman to be worth way more than a ruby is quite a “price”. Don’t you agree? Wow! This is just amazing!

• ¹¹ The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. This woman does not waste! Her husband can safely trust in her to manage business for him and to take good care of the home.
• ¹² She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She makes it a “point” or is committed to do good to her husband, always.
• ¹³ She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is not lazy but finds ways to be productive.
• ¹⁴ She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She goes at lengths to find the best products for her household.
• ¹⁵ She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She starts the day early to prepare for her household and to those who help her.
• ¹⁶ She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She is industrious and considers the cost and all that are involved before purchasing.
• ¹⁷ She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. ¹⁸ She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. ¹⁹ She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She is diligent in getting things done and is happy with the end results.
• ²⁰ She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She has a giving heart and gives to those in need.
• ²¹ She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. ²² She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. She chooses good quality clothing for her family and lays up in stock for later days – she provides a comfortable home. Scarlet, silk, and purple are her favorite materials. When I think about those materials, I think about quality and royalty (especially purple). In ancient times, purple was worn by Emperors, magistrates, and the like…..
• ²³ Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Her husband is respected by others in his community because of her testimony.
• ²⁴ She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. She sells her products to others. She is industrious. 
• ²⁵ Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. Strength and honor are rewarded to her for her quality.
• ²⁶ She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. ²⁷ She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. ²⁸ Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Her words are filled with kindness and wisdom. She selects them carefully before she speaks and blesses others with her words. Also, she is not idle and takes excellent care of her family and home. She assumes the title as “Blessed” from both her husband and children.
• ²⁹ Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. The qualities she exhibits surpasses all other qualities of virtuous women.
• ³⁰ Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. ³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. She is not rewarded for her outward beauty but her inward, which she can only accomplish by fearing the Lord. Outward beauty is nothing when it comes to inward qualities. Her own works shall speak for her. 

Beauty recommends none to God, nor is it any proof of wisdom and goodness, but it has deceived many a man who made his choice of a wife by it. But the fear of God reigning in the heart, is the beauty of the soul; it lasts for ever. (Matthew Henry)

The characteristics explained in these verses are phenomenal! This is an example of a woman who seems to have it all together in EVERY. SINGLE. WAY. She takes care of home and her family so well that they call her “blessed”. What an example for us to follow as we create our homes. Yes, we may find ourselves failing over and over again, but we should not stop striving to achieve good characteristics as we take care of our family and our homes.

Let’s challenge ourselves to work on one good character at a time by taking one verse and building our lives around it. Trying to achieve every character all at once will simply exhaust us and set us up for failure. Take a verse , study it, pray about it, and allow the Holy Spirit to change us and make to be better women of God. And the talents you already have to put into your home keeping using them to the best that you know how. If you are interested in reading an overview of this passage here is a good source. 

So what do you think about all the characteristics of the virtuous woman? Do you struggle with some of the characteristics mentioned in the verses? Where do you find yourself excelling or what talent do you have that you could continue to use for the betterment of your home? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments!

Plus! Don’t miss the other posts in this series!

Characteristics of a Biblical Homemaker from Titus 2: Soundness & Stability